["Rabies odontologica" Analysis of communications among dentists by legal means]

The present study examines developments in the language used in protests, appeals and objections as lodged by patients and by attending dentists in regard to formal legal aspects and contents. The study is based on about 15,000 expert reports prepared by the Dental Services Department of the City of Wuppertal during the period from 1990 to 2001. The investigation reveals a considerable and growing discrepancy between the neutral and objective language qua legal proviso of the expert reports and the diction used in the objections, above all on the part of dentists. The authors propose a set of instruments to be used for legal analysis of texts and discuss possible reasons, including non-medical reasons, for the documented deplorable drop in standard of controversies among dentists in particular.